Guinness Cupcakes

adapted from Dave Lieberman

Ingredients
1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness Stout
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Scharffen Berger Cocoa)
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Guinness, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet Guinness mixture.
4. Butter 24 muffin tins and divide the batter among the muffin tins.
5. Bake 25 minutes, until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out of the tins.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream
1 stick salted butter – room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
4 tablespoons very cold milk

Directions
Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the clear vanilla extract and combine well. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk… one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed) until you reach the desired consistency.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

ingredients:

2 c. crushed pretzel pieces
2 tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
8 oz. tub of Cool Whip
2 regular boxes of strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
About 10 ounces of frozen fruit (we used strawberries and raspberries) thawed and drained

how to:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Crush regular pretzels in a zip lock bag with something heavy. In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of crushed pretzel, 2 tbs. brown sugar, and 2/3 cup of melted butter. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of a 9×13 baking pan. Bake for 8 minutes then allow to cool.

Mix Jello packets and boiling water until dissolved. Stir in thawed fruit then place mixture in the fridge to chill while you make the middle layer.

Stir together softened cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, and thawed tub of Cool Whip until nicely mixed. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips over the cooled pretzel crust. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on top the crust. Then top with the fruit-jello mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

This is the first recipe that I pulled out of my Martha Stewart cupcake cookbook. This isn't exactly a cupcake, but was phenomenal none the less. I would highly suggest these.

Please note, this recipe is directly out of the cookbook and I haven't made any changes.

Ingredients:

• 42 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (IE: oreos), 30 left whole and 12 coarsley chopped.
• 2 pounds of cream cheese, room temperature.
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-filled cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (in tins) at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Cupcake Cookbook!

I went to Barnes and Noble today and picked this up. I'm really looking forward to starting a few of these recipes. There's a bunch of different frosting recipes and how-to's along with it. I should probably work on tasty before I work on presentation. Who cares what they look like if they're inedible.

So there should be a post later this week with my first Martha Stewart cupcake attempt. Wish me luck.

...I needed a hobby

I got laid off in December and have yet to find a job. As job hunting constantly gets old quickly, I needed a second hobby. I started baking here and there because my boyfriend is a sugar-holic and it gave me something to do. Now that I'm deciding that I like it, I'm considering taking cake decorating classes and I'm collecting people's favorite recipes and websites.

Yesterday I tried out a cupcake recipe from my friend Dan's girlfriend, Shannon. (see her blog at: www.icanhascupcake.blogspot.com) I know I'm going to get yelled at for this, but I didn't eat any of my creation. I heard the cupcakes came out phenomenal though, so yippee for me.

Nutella filled - Banana cupcakes w/ Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes: 18-24 mini cupcakes

Banana Buttermilk Cake
3/4 C. white sugar, divided
1/2 C. ripe banana
1/4 C. soft butter
1 t. vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temp.
1 C. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 C. buttermilk, room temp.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Frosting
1 3/4 C. powdered sugar
1/2 C. (4oz.) soft cream cheese
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 C. chopped Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate bar

Preheat oven to 350 and position rack in middle. Place paper liners in cupcake pan and spray all over with nonstick spray. Mash banana with 1/4 C. sugar in a small bowl, set aside. In stand mixer, cream together 1/2 C. sugar, butter, and vanilla with paddle attachment on medium speed until just incorporated. Scrape bowl with spatula all the way to the bottom to be sure everything is mixed evenly between adding new ingredients. Next, on the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time, then add the banana and mix until just incorporated. Whisk together the remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl, and add to the mixer on a low speed, alternately with the buttermilk. Scrape entire bowl once more and mix only until just combined. Spoon batter into cupcake liners until each one is about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 6 minutes, rotate pans, and bake another 6 minutes. Test cake with a tooth pick, only very little crumb is perfect doneness. It should still be light in color and slightly moist, yet firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container until ready to fill & frost.

To fill cupcakes, you will need to get a pastry bag or heavy duty ziploc bag to pipe the nutella into the cupcakes. Punch a hole into the center of the cupcakes using a chopstick, and have a small bowl of white sugar to dip the chopstick in between cupcakes as not to ruin the crown of the cupcake pulling the chopstick out (one after the other, the chopstick gets a little sticky and the sugar helps prevent that). Spoon about 1/2 C. of Nutella hazelnut spread in a small dish and microwave 15-30 seconds. Spoon into pastry bag and place the tip into the bottom of each cupcake, pulling up as you squeeze.

Finally, the frosting is very simple. Make sure to sift your powdered sugar, and that your cream cheese is at room temp. First mix cream cheese, then add sugar, then vanilla with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer. fold in chocolate with a rubber spatula. Use a pastry bag or heavy duty ziploc bag to pipe frosting onto cupcakes in a rosette. Garnish with a chunk of chocolate on top.